Saudi plane hijacked

An armed hijacker has seized control of a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight bound from Jeddah to London and ordered it to fly to the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

The hijacker, who has warned the pilot he is carrying dynamite, threatened to blow up the Boeing 777-200 which is carrying at least 98 people, most of them Britons.

A member of the Saudi royal family is also reported to be among the passengers.

The hijacker is saying that he has TNT (explosives) on board and he might blow the aircraft

Pilot's message to Egyptian air traffic control

The first alert came after the pilot of Flight 115 contacted Egyptian civil aviation officials at 1455 local time (1255 GMT).

The airliner initially flew into Syrian airspace and circled the capital Damascus. Some reports said it had landed, but it later emerged that the landing had been aborted at the last moment on the orders of the hijacker.

Crisis clue

Earlier, Israel radio broadcast a message from the pilot to Egyptian air traffic controllers: "The hijacker is saying that he has TNT (explosives) on board and he might blow the aircraft, and we have passengers from all kinds of nationalities.

"Please contact Syrian air control and arrange for us permission to overfly Syrian airspace en route to Baghdad."

A member of the Saudi royal family is reported to be among the passengers.

A BBC correspondent in Cairo says, given the extent of anti-Western feeling in Saudi Arabia and the number of Palestinian groups in Syria, the hijacking is likely to be linked to the tension in the West Bank and Gaza strip.

Security breach

Saudi Arabia is home to a large number of devout Islamists, many of whom would like to see their government to take a tougher stand against Israel.

The hijacker or hijackers would have got on the plane at Jeddah, where Saudi security is usually strict.

However, the leader of the Saudi opposition group in London, Dr Saad Al-Faquih, told the BBC that those with tribal, personal or royal connections can sometimes bypass security.

Worried relatives and friends of those on board the plane have been arriving at London Heathrow's Terminal 3 where the flight had been expected to touch down at 1740 local time (1640GMT).